Yet we see it in movies. All the time. In every movie with a winter wilderness scene.

It is absurd and insulting to the viewer.

People don’t intentionally get wet in the wilderness in winter even if they are near a resort with a fireplace, hot water, and a clothes dryer.

When a character goes wading into water during winter, it takes me out of the story every single time.

I cannot conceive why a filmmaker would do that. Perhaps in hopes that the viewer will think, “Man, that character was cold before… but after wading through frozen water with no shelter in sight, they are really cold!”

To be blunt, it is stupid. Especially when the character is supposed to be a seasoned explorer or mountain man.

Getting submersed, outdoors, during winter, in the wilderness means death.

Argh. That is so frustrating and disappointing to see in a film.

Anyways, here are the notes I took while watching the film:

Lots of exposition

Leo’s character doesn’t seem like much of a nature expert

Gruesome doesn’t mean good

Some on-the-nose dialogue

Kinda cartoonish bad guys

It’s Braveheart, Revenge, Apocalypto, etc. set in the NW.

Gosh darn it! No survivalist, or thinking person, gets and stays wet.

No. One. Would wade into frozen water.

Gosh darn it. No one even tip toes near frozen water when trying to survive cold climate.

I thought his arm was broken??

The symbolism of trees is confusing, clumsy, and heavy handed.

Fogging up the camera was horrid. It ripped me out of the story.

Tom Hardy commands the screen!

The montages are clumsy.

Gah! More people wading through water.

Quite a few subplots that have a very weak connection to the main story

Subplots are a little hard to follow

Why didn’t he stay with the girl?

Why are those Indians attacking him?

He really doesn’t seem like an experienced nature guy.

Why would anyone get inside of a horse? Wouldn’t it be easier, safer, more sanitary to build a fire or ANY other shelter? Wouldn’t butchering a horse attract every carnivore in a 10 mile radius?

Why do the good guys trust the obvious villain?

The captain is too young

Leo’s voice rarely fits the character for me. But he consumes this character. Wonderful acting. Doesn’t seem like acting.

C’mon. Leo is splashing through water as he is tracking the bad guy and carrying the captains corpse. No. One. Would. Do. That. No one gets in water when they are trying to survive in winter wilderness.

Leo’s character still seems like a horrible mountain man. Can’t track, can’t read signs, can’t fight, wades through freezing water at every opportunity, prone to blinding emotion

The final chase and fight are good. Unconventional. Patient. Brilliant.

The current election, and the bizarre fervor boiling in it, got me to thinking.

It is absurd to expect that each new politician will have all new policies.

Yet we demand that each candidate have new, unique solutions for healthcare, immigration, unemployment, education, and all threats real and imagined.

“What is your policy on…” we ask all our candidates. And the answer had better be something different than what the incumbent is doing. Imagine if it wasn’t. There goes that candidate’s chances.

But the truth is that jumping from idea to idea, jumping from solution to solution, and changing your mind abruptly are not what we should want from those in power. If a leader did that on their own, we would think they were grossly unfit to lead. But they do it. We demand of them. And we continue this strange game each election with the utmost sincerity and fervor.

It is a silly, disastrous way to run a life, company, or nation. Certainly no shareholder would allow a company to be ran that way.

We do not need an ALL NEW FOR 2016! approach to the work that is necessary to keep a nation improving. We should not want an ALL NEW! approach. It is foolishness.

The way to success has always been iterative. Drip by drip. Steady improvement.

If the ideas of the each previous leadership need to be abandoned and replaced, well, we should all be embarrassed that we insisted on such change and expected that it would have an enduring, positive effect.

I call it “shopping for lightning”: looking and expecting to find that one, elusive magical solution that will finally fix the problem of education, unemployment, terrorism, healthcare, etc. Such thinking is nonsense.

>We act as though one person shapes the country, don’t we? As though one person has all the ideas and power. As though we have but one savior. Or devil. This thinking is so silly it is strange that it is universal.

Why would we think that the nation has but one savior or devil? Why would we demand that each new candidate have new ideas—the magic lightning that will surely, finally solve the problems that mankind has not yet been able to solve since our beginning?

ALL NEW FOR 2016!
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!
YOU’VE NEVER SEEN THIS BEFORE!
SAY GOODBYE TO (insert problem)!

It sounds harsh to use the word “stupid”, but that feels like the most accurate word for the stupid game we play.